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Originally posted by lurkette
Bottom line, whether the outcome was "good" or not, depending on your opinion, should the government have the right to force private entities to perform actions that, in practice, support activities they don't agree with?
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As I've made pretty clear on this thread, I would say that no, the government has no right to force private organizations to associate with people that it does not want to. A private organization should be able to deny service to anyone, for whatever reason they wish. If society feels that the organization is unfair, they will "punish" it accordingly. Take a look at all of the negative publicity about the Boy Scouts, for example.
Quote:
Originally posted by lurkette
But on the other hand, at what point does one group's civil right to free speech (the gay group) conflict with the businessperson's right to behave according to his beliefs? What if nobody would print this group's flier? Or what if a printer refused to serve an African-American group? A biracial marriage support group? The Methodist church? Do businesses in Canada have the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason? And what if it wasn't a printer, but say, a restaurant (Denny's anyone?) or a hotel that refused service?
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There are always other options. In the specific example of a printer, it is possible to have things printed out of state/country, or to print something privately (hello PrintShop + $200 laser printer), use other medias (the Internet for example), etc. Even the KKK has a website, so I think it would be unreasonable for a group to suggest that it is possible to be completely blacklisted to the point of having your freedom of speech imposed upon. The constitution doesn't guarantee that expressing controvercial views will be easy.
